Dr. R. Richard Ray of the Hope College faculty is being awarded an "Outstanding Educator Award" from the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers' Association (GLATA).

The awards are presented to GLATA members "who have significantly contributed to the education of GLATA members through academic presentations, published manuscripts or editorials, educational program development." It will be presented on Friday, March 12, during the association's winter meeting, to be held in Chicago, Ill.

Ray, who is a past president of GLATA, has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1982, and has been involved in the profession of athletic training for nearly a quarter century.

He is a professor of kinesiology, athletic trainer and chairperson of the department at Hope. He coordinated the college's athletic training program through the spring of 2001, at which point he began coordinating the college's on-going effort to seek re-accreditation through the North Central Association. He became department chair this past fall.

Under Ray's leadership, the college's athletic training program grew into a full major that requires its graduates to complete 48 credit hours in a variety of disciplines and at least 1,500 of clinical work under the supervision of a certified athletic trainer. Hope is the only private liberal arts college, and became only the fourth institution of any type, in the state of Michigan to have its athletic training program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).

In March of 2002, he received a "Distinguished Service Award" from GLATA. In June of 2001, he received the "Sayers 'Bud' Miller Distinguished Educator Award" from the National Athletic Trainers' Association, the association's highest honor for an athletic training educator. In May of 1999, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Michigan Athletic Trainers' Society, which had presented him with its "Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award" in 1995. In January of 2000, he received Hope's "Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching."

Ray has a wide range of research interests, and has received several grants to support his work. He is the editor or author of the books "Management Strategies in Athletic Training" (2000, 1994), "Counseling in Sports Medicine" (1999) and "Case Studies in Athletic Training Administration" (1995), all published by Human Kinetics. He has written numerous articles in scientific publications, and has presented papers at professional conferences including the annual clinical symposia in 2000 of both the Japan Athletic Trainers Organization in Tokyo and the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association in Niagara Falls.

He is former editor of "Athletic Therapy Today" and served as associate editor of the "Journal of Athletic Training."

Ray was co-chair of the National Athletic Trainers' Association Education Task Force. He was president of GLATA from 1990 to 1992, and is also a member and former president of the Michigan Athletic Trainers' Society.

He received a BSEd from the University of Michigan in 1979, a master's in physical education from Western Michigan University in 1980 and an EdD in educational leadership from Western Michigan University in 1990.

The Great Lakes Athletic Trainers' Association includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. The association represents approximately 22 percent of the total membership of the National Athletic Trainers' Association. Members serve in settings including high schools, colleges and universities, professional sports organizations, physician offices, rehabilitation clinics and industrial work sites.